Tweeters,

I'm passing this on from Julia Bent. I seem to recall reading somewhere
recently of a suspected Great Blue Heron x Great Egret hybrid, Perhaps this
is one. Or a leucistic GBH. In any case, be on the lookout.

Gene Hunn.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Julia Bent" <jbent at scn.org>
To: "Eugene and Nancy Hunn" <enhunn323 at comcast.net>
Sent: Saturday, November 20, 2004 5:55 PM
Subject: Wurdemann's Heron?


> Dear Gene,
>
> Cheruan and I were up birding at the Samish today, and we saw a most
> unusual GBH. Had we been in South Florida I would not have hesitated to
> call it a Wurdemann's Heron. It was definitely the size and shape of a
> GBH, but the head and neck were pale cream to white, with light blue on
> the crown, and a brighter white at the base of the yellow bill. No
> plumes, but there were some "rougher" feathers down the back of the neck,
> same pale cream as the neck. The body itself was blue like a regular GBH,
> although it was paler. The legs were a dull yellow. Eye bright yellow.
>
> It was hanging out in the vicinity of the Samish River bridge. We parked
> in the area just northeast of the bridge and saw the heron out in a
> harvested, muddy field directly to the north. It was standing up,
> resting on one leg, with Dunlin roosting around its legs (it was high
> tide). It didn't move while we were there. We had excellent scope views,
> with full sunlight coming from the south. 2:00 pm today. We saw many
> other GBH's today, but none came close to his one, except in size and
> shape.
>
> I don't subscribe to Tweeters, but I did check reports through today on
> the Web and didn't see any listings for this bird. I don't know that I'd
> want you to post for me, based on my observations, but it would be great
> if someone else wanted to check it out?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Cheruan and Julia (Cheruan spotted the bird first...)
>
> Julia Bent
> P.O. Box 31745
> Seattle, WA 98103-1745
> (206) 783-0669
>
>